SF Etsy & Rickshaw Bags Design Contest

About a month ago, Rebecca Saylor strolled into Rickshaw Bagworks to collect some heavyweight fabric scraps that they were donating to Fabmo - along with some bags they made for volunteers.

Little did she know...she would spark a partnership that could very well go down in SF Etsy history.

Meet Mark Dwight...Founder & CEO of Rickshaw Bagworks. He's also the Founder of SFMade.

He's a completely talented and creative individual who really knows what it's like to start something from a small seedling of an idea - into something really special.

Read all about Rickshaw Bags and tell me you're not already feeling inspired by these people.

He heard about us through the SF grapevine and he said to Rebecca - I want to team up with SF Etsy and wanted to see if we would like to work together on some fun projects....and Rebecca said "I'll connect you!" The excitement was in the air.

I could hear the smile in Rebecca's voice when she called to tell me about partnering with them.  Shortly after, she connected me with Mark and the three of us started to coordinate a series of partnerships with Rickshaw Bagworks for SF ETSY MEMBERS ONLY :-)!! Yay'

The First partnership starts now...

THE DESIGN CONTEST!

I personally am completely thrilled by this contest...and I just know you all will be, too. Bag makers, embroidery artists and painters/illustrators will LOVE this project.

Basic Concept:

Design the front flap of a Rickshaw Bagworks Medium Zero Messenger Bag.

Materials You Can Use (limitations on material usage):

• For Illustrators/Screenprinters/Painters - use 10 oz. weight canvas & screen printing paint. Make sure you waterproof it also just in case it gets caught in the rain when it's made into a bag
• Bag Designers - heavy-weight upholstery fabric or anything that is 10 oz. weight or more. You can do a quilting technique or use your sewing machine to patch on different pieces to the front flap...the world is your oyster. You can even add a pocket to the front also (sorry, no button though)
• For Embroidery: see above. :) You can embroider on any heavy-weight fabric 10 oz. weight or more.

NO GLITTER - NO SEQUINS - NO FEATHERS - NO EXTRA PARTS

Nothing that could get stuck in a machine when being cut or assembled. 

Bag design should lay flat and be easy to fold up... nothing too thick, sticky or messy.

If you use any of the restricted materials, your submission will be disqualified.

The Pattern:

Download and view the pattern below

http://www.katyatchison.com/messengerBag_rickshawZero_medium_SFETSYFLAP.jpg

your submission will be is 20" by 15"
Keep your main design in the safe area shown below

PLEASE DO NOT CUT IT INTO A FLAP SHAPE

(that way, if you want to make this into a bag yourself later,
you can still do that and have them cut it for you)



Rebecca Saylor's flap design and the color swatches

Designing your one-of-a-kind flap...is really fun!



Mark of Rickshaw Bags hard at work with Rebecca's flap design

Here's a photo Astra Brinkmann took of me working on my bag design

How to submit your flap design:

Send a scan or a take a photo of your bag flap to me (Katy) by September 15th.

I will create a mock-bag with your design for voting.

Make sure you send in the best quality photo to get the most votes!
ONLY ONE DESIGN PER SF ETSY MEMBER

BAG EXAMPLES:
Here are the two bags designed from the flaps that Rebecca and I made. Notice that she used a quilting/sewn technique and I used a painting technique on my flap.

You can really individualize your design to suit your artistic style.


Flap design by Rebecca Saylor using heavy-weight upholstery

Detail shot of Rebecca's Bag - all photos taken by Rickshaw Bagworks



Detail shot of Katy's finished bag



Flap design by Katy Atchison - later assembled and built by Rickshaw Bagworks



This is what the mock design will look like for voting

Voting & How You Win:

Voting will begin on September 18th and will end September 24th on our Facebook Page. The winner will be announced at a September 25th event (see below). To win: you must have the highest COMBINED total of likes and comments for your bag design.

What you win:

You get your one-of-a-kind bag made - for free 
by Rickshaw Bagworks

Valued at over $89. You'll get to completely customize the color combination of your bag by choosing the final colors for the inside, outside and piping of the bag.

Why You want to be part of this:

EXPOSURE! Every design submitted will be posted on our Facebook Page with a link to your shop. We will have blog postings about the contest. And a whole event to announce the winner, too!

Not only that - you'll get the opportunity to really show Rickshaw Bagworks what you're all about...and YOU can build this bag later yourself if you want and wear it around to show off your brand and what you're work is all about.

WINNER ANNOUNCED DURING THE

SF ETSY EVENT @ RICKSHAW BAGS

SEPTEMBER 25th @6pm
904 22nd Street – San Francisco, CA
Right next to 22nd Street Cal Train Station

During our exclusive SF Etsy Event at Rickshaw Headquarters

FREE beverages will be provided by Speakeasy Beer! YUM!

All SF Etsy members can come to this free event! If you designed a flap - please, bring it to the event to show it off to Rickshaw and so we can create a pop-up gallery for all of us to talk about and enjoy during the event. We'll be hanging them all up and admiring your work.

Plus! Added bonus for attending: Rickshaw Bagworks wants to talk to YOU about teaming up with them to create limited edition bags. You do the fun part - put your spin on the front of the bag...

and then they assemble bags to your specs! Come hang with us and Rickshaw Bags (drink a free beer!)  and see why they want to work with you - help you expand your business into the art of making bags along side Rickshaw Bagworks via small batch one-of-a-kind bags & in-store consignment opportunities.  Imagine having access to an industrial sewing machine - a team of people to assemble your work - and a whole company wanting to help you ...create something... magical!

Plus, Mark will talk all about SFMade - what it is & how to join!

Questions?

Ask me or Rebecca if you are struggling with any part of this. We want to make this a fun project for each of you! 

HUGE THANK YOU to Rebecca Saylor. This has been her vision and we are so lucky to have her on our team!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Tuestorial: Group Painting Project

So I've been trying to think of an interactive Group Craft Project that could be fun for a group of friends to do together at a Craft Night as an Ice Breaker...
I guess I'm mentally preparing myself for this weekend's awesome Etsy Party!
Last night I tried out one of my ideas with a group of friends at my house.

THE PROJECT:
Pass The Painting
THE GOAL:
Break the Ice, have fun, giggle and take home a treat!

THE CREW! Some Artistic and Wonderfully fun people...
You'll want more than one person...preferably 4 or more for best results.

Allie Felton (Organizer)
Katy Atchison (Hostess)
Allie Zee
Angela Holmes
Also my friend Stu and his girlfriend came...which made a nice sized group of six people.

A spin off the Drawing Game, Pass the Garbage...this is pretty much exactly the same as that but more challenging because you have to have a basic understanding of how to paint or draw on a canvas.

Materials Needed:
Canvases (I bought a 10-pack of pre-stretched canvases at Aaron Brothers for $21), Acrylic Paint (because it's fast drying), Sharpies & Markers for detailing if you want...timer, water for cleaning, and various brushes.

STEP ONE:
Hand each participant a Blank Canvas...
On the back of the canvas...have them write one sentence that describes the painting.
Be Imaginative! The crazier your sentence is...the more creative your other players get to be.
My Sentence: "Don't judge a rainy day by the unicorns eating ice cream in a sailboat by the bay."



STEP TWO:
Pass the Painting to your left!
Without revealing your sentence to the group...pass the painting to the first artist.
It's fun for the artists to get to read your sentence as they receive the painting.



STEP THREE:
Each artist has 5 minutes with the canvas at a time.
Set the timer the minute people start to paint on the canvases.

You can increase or decrease the amount of time that you give each person...but please note that every person around the table will get 5-10 minutes with your canvas and you'll need to also have a bit of drying time at the end. Therefore, in this case...since there were 6 people who were part of this Painting Party, we were painting for 45 min. to an hour.

STEP FOUR:
Paint! Taking inspiration from the sentence on the back...paint on the canvas in front of you... Try to leave some room for other participants...but get creative...and QUICK! part of the fun is that you don't have a lot of time to think about what you're going to be painting.
Plus, if you're not a skilled painter...you're welcome to just doodle a little flower in the ground or paint some background color in during your 5 minute turn. Also remember that the painting you're working on isn't going to end up being yours...so don't be afraid!

STEP FIVE:
Be sure to let your paintings dry before your friends leave your house....or ask them to be careful while traveling home. What's fun about this game is that everyone takes home a memory of the evening.

STEP SIX:
Present your work to the group.
At the end... stand up and read your original sentence to the group....showing your masterpiece to everyone at the same time.
Here are some of what we did!








ADVANTAGES TO THIS STYLE OF GROUP CRAFT:
No directions... allowing people the freedom to go crazy with no directions to follow also allows you to really get to know the artists around you.

DIS-ADVANTAGES TO THIS STYLE OF GROUP CRAFT:
you need to have the space and the time to do it. A bit messy as well...but I didn't mind using my large craft table for it. Also...it takes a lot of letting go and allowing yourself to not get hung up in the end result. Personally, I like the surprise of it all. Some artists also don't like the pressure of having to work on something for 5-10 minutes...but others really like that type of challenge.

Here's the aftermath of the project: (can you tell we really got into it?)


Have any of you done something similar? What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Recommit to Being Awesome - GET YOUR PAINT ON!

brushes in mati's studio
photo by kelly rae roberts

Now that we're a few weeks into the new year, let's check in... How have you done with YOUR resolutions?

We all might have asked ourselves to recommit to eating better and exercising more, but how many of us asked ourselves to be more creative?

That's one of the greatest resolutions to ever give yourself!

With more creativity, you're able to open up a whole new world of awesomeness. And I happen to know a couple of people who can help you be more awesome, too!

lisa and mati at their joint art show in 2009
photo by kelly rae roberts

Lisa Congdon and Mati McDonough are joining forces next week to teach people from all over how to work their raddness all over the canvas with Get Your Paint On . This "5-week online tutorial course in painting... is designed to support both beginning painters and more experienced artists... while [Lisa + Mati] share their unique and colorful  approach to painting in a warm and welcoming environment."

Two very successful artists (featured in various books, shows, galleries and, of course, Etsy) who make amazing art want to show other people how to make art for 5 weeks? That's pretty awesome.

There are lot of areas that Get Your Paint On will cover (i.e. using colour, creating beautiful composition), but the best part will be the creative online community in which so many of us already thrive! Your fellow artisans will be honing their skills or picking up a new one; this seems like a good time of year to recommitt to being awesome!

Check out more info about Get Your Paint On here! 

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Steph Cortés from nerd JERK is the Roving Reporter, on the SF Etsy Blog Team. She enjoys going out to new crafting events and supporting the handmade movement. Look forward to more reports on her artsy shenanigans in weeks to come.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!